COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is looking to consolidate his party's power in Thursday's parliamentary election to help him implement his election pledges to solve the country's economic woes and foster good governance.

STORY: Sudath Kumara and his wife Nilmini live in a house illegally built on state-owned land in Sri Lanka.They have nowhere else to go, they say, and could be evicted at any moment.Kumara blames the previous administration for his dire financial situation.

HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Sri Lanka votes to elect a new parliament this week in a snap general election called by its Marxist-leaning president who wants a fresh mandate in the legislature to drive economic reforms in the debt-ridden island nation.

The snap parliamentary elections were called by President Dissanayake after he won polls in September on a promise to combat corruption and improve the country's economic situation.

We urge workers, students, youth and rural poor to vote for the SEP in this election to express their support for our international socialist perspective and on that basis prepare for the class struggles ahead.

The Chairman of the Election Commission R.M.A.L. Rathnayake requests all the voters in Sri Lanka to exercise their franchise in the upcoming General Election. He stated that as voting is a right granted to people by the country’s Constitution, the public should cast their votes.

Uditha Devapriya and Umesh Moramudali on Sri Lanka’s ongoing political realignment.

Strong support that Dissanayake secured in the presidential election will likely stay with his party in Thursday’s election, analysts say